Holder and guide for screws.



No. 643,040. Patented Feb. 6, I900. E. 0. CARVIN & L. C. BOURLA'ND.

HOLDER AND GUIDE FOR SCREWS.

(Application filed Sept. 23, 1898.) (No Model.)

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EDlVARD O. OARVIN AND LEMUEL C. BOURLAND, OF VALLEY SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA.

HOLDER AND GUIDE FOR SCREWS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 643,040, dated February 6, 1900.

Application filed September 23, 1898. Serial No. 691,727. (No model.)

T0 on whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWARD O. CARVIN and LEMUEL (J. BOURLAND, citizens of the United States, residing at Valley Springs, in the county of Calaveras and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Holders and Guides for Screws, 650.; and we do'hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to holders and guides for screws, drills, and the like; and it consists of the construction and arrangement of parts more fullyhereinafter described and claimed.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved construction of attachment adapted for use with a brace or other kindred device for holding a screw during the operation of insertion of a drill and avoid the necessity of hand manipulation, and consequently attain a better result.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved device shown as holding a screw. Fig. 2 is a similar View of the device with a drill arranged there- 1n. holder.

Referring to the drawings, wherein similar numerals are employed to indicate corresponding parts in the several views, the numeral 1 designates an elongated holder constructed of suitable metal and having its lower end or head cut through vertically, as at 2, to form opposite jaws 3. The said jaws have on their inner opposing faces a portion 4 of an angular opening which is completed by the two jaws coming together, and from the said jaws opposite slightly-bowed side arms 5 extend upwardly to a solid upper end or head 6, having an aperture 7 therein. The side arms 5 form springs for the jaws 3, and the holder is open, so as to give access to a stem 8, which is rotatably and slidingly mounted in the end 6. The bowed side arms decrease gradually in thickness from their ends toward their central portions, where they are thinnest, so as to increase their spring action and adapt the jaws to open readily under pressure to admit of the passage of the stem therethrough in Fig. 3 is a section through the improveddriving a screw in the manner hereinafter described. The said stem has an upper angular end9 for engagement with a brace or other analogous device, and at the lower end of said stem a screw-driver end 10 is constructed by reducing or flattening the metal at this point by any suitable means. Immediately above the screw-driver end 10 a circumferential shoulder 11 is also formed on the stem, and between the said shoulder andthe upper end 6 and surrounding the stem is a coilspring 12, which normally impels the said stem downwardly and holds the lower screwdriver end in engagement with the device held by the jaws 3. i 1

In Fig. 2 a drill is shown applied to the holder and guide and comprises a drill end 13 of any suitable form, with an angular upper body 14, provided with a notched or slotted head 15. The body 14 is fitted in the angular opening partially located in each of the jaws 3, and the head 15 is held within the open portion of the holder and guide for engagement with the lower screw-driver end 10 of the stem 8. I

In operation the .jaws 3 are spread apart and the screw placed in position therein, as shown by Fig. l, with the lower screw-driver end 10 of the stem 8 in the slot of the head of said screw. The holder 1 is then held by one hand and the stem rotated and a downward pressure applied thereto by the other hand and the exposed threaded portion of the shank of the screw driven into the woodwork or material until the outer ends of the jaws bear against said woodwork or material.. The jawswill then open under the pressure of the stem, and the screw and stem will pass down between the jaws, so that the screw will be held and guided during the entire operation of driving it and the entire driving operation made continuous or uninterrupted. The shoulder 11 is adapted to abut against the inner ends of the jaws to prevent the stem from being projected through the jaws beyond a predetermined distance, and the diameter of the head of the screw is such that the jaws will be held apart when said stem enters between them a sufficient distance to relieve the screw-threads from pressure. After the screw is seated the stem will be drawn upwardly through the jaws and rearranged for further similar use. By adapting the jaws to open under the pressure of the stem and the latter to follow the screw through saidjaws we are enabled to dispense with the use of auxiliary expanding devices, and the holder is adapted to be employed as a handle which may be held against the woodwork to steady the tool without danger of cutting or marring the woodwork.

In using a drill with the device a body 14, as set forth, is held by the jaws and a substantially-similar operation is carried on.

In Fig. 4 a modification is shown, and therein the shoulder 11 is dispensed with and an opening 16 formed in the lower bent end 17 of the spring 12 is removably fitted, thereby permitting a stem having thereon one kind of tool to be removed and another with a different tool to be substituted therefor.

The proportions and dimensions of the several parts can be varied at will, and the minor details of construction can be changed without in the least departing from the nature or spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is In a holder and guide for screws, the, the combination of a non-rotatable holder and guide member serving as a handpiece adapted to be held to steady the tool during the entire operation of driving the screw, and consistin g, essentially, of an upper guide-head, lower jaws adapted to receive and clamp the head and unthreaded portion of the shank of the screw and hold and guide said screw during the entire operation of driving the same, and outwardly-bowed comparatively free resili ent arms connecting the head and jaws, said arms being gradually reduced in thickness from said head and jaws toward their centers to increase their spring action and adapt the lower ends thereof to readily spread apart and the jaws to open under the pressure applied directly against the inner ends of said jaws, a stem slidably and rotatably mounted in the upper guide-head of the holder and having a lower screw-driver end adapted to force open the jaws and follow the screw therethrough, an impelling-spring surrounding the stem and hearing at its upper end against the guide-head of the holder, and a fixed shoulder on the stem adapted to confine the spring and also to abut against the inner ends of the jaws to limit the movement of the stem therethrough, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof we ai'n'x our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD O. OARVIN. LEMUEL O. BOURLAND. Witnesses:

H. W. Scorn, OLIVE M. Soo'rrr. 

